That 79 Strat and 335 aint going nowhere my friend!

Right instead of theorizing as to whether you can get them or not, go and try. Not with gain, you should be able to play all harmonics completely cleanly, save maybe the 2nd fret one on the high E. Depending on setup.

Their completely natural harmonics, if you can get them it's obviously a technique issue at the 5th fret and not a setup issue.

Theres nothing untoward about a strats neck pickup, it's not in the same position as the telecasters neck pickup. It doesn't sit underneath that harmonic interval like the tele's does.

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I did try it, they're not as easy and they're not as clear either... even with the guitar unplugged, natural harmonics are much clearer, and there is no issue at the 5th fret. If it's a technique issue how come I can get the full harmonic as soon as I switch out of the neck position?? Switch it back and it gets quieter?

As I mentioned earlier, I don't use harmonics, only when I want to tune the guitar... so maybe my technique sucks, I just don't understand why it's so easy to get ALL the harmonics when not in the neck position, my technique isn't changing when I'm using the neck position...

Is the neck pup located at the "24th" fret? That could explain why it doesn't work, I was just told by someone I trust that there's no vibration at the neck when doing 5th fret harmonics that's why the neck pup doesn't pick it up... a quick search on Google:



Measure the distance from the 12th fret to the middle of the neck pup, then measure the distance from the neck pup to the bridge, they're equal, so that explains it.

That neck pickup on the strat is not in the same place as it is on the tele. Also if it was interfering with the 5th fret harmonic it would be doing so because of its magnetic pull. You can't switch that off, it would interfere regardless of pickup selection.

Wherever you got that quote from is wrong. Nut to 5th fret is 162 mm, 12th fret to same harmonic is 164mm, 12th fret to center of neck polepiece is 166mm. Measured on my Vintage Hotrod.

12th fret to center of neck pickup on my telecaster is 160mm bang on.

If you can get the lower fret harmonics, then it cant be a technique problem and must be a eq problem.

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It's harder to get the harmonics on the 5th fret of any guitar. Acoustic or electric.

All this time you have spent complaining about it and trying to find some sort of scientific reason for it, you could have been practicing your harmonic technique...

Just sayin.

I'll need to take some measurements to confirm... I just don't see how technique or eq have anything to do with it, they remain the same regardless of what pup is being used when doing harmonics at the 5th fret.

Can you do the same 5th fret harmonic right above the neck pup? To me that tells me that the 24th fret is there, and it is the same distance as the 5th fret when the length of the string is divided into 4 vibrating sections, therefore at the neck pup there's a "node" just like there is at the 5th fret. Maybe this drawing will help, but it doesn't include the 5th fret harmonic but you'll get the idea.



I'm happy with this explanation and after 25 years of not caring about it I'll go back to doing what I was doing before and not using the neck pup when tuning Hope this helps the OP. If it really bothers you move the neck pup and maybe we can confirm if that's the culprit

It can't be down to the neck pickup. No passive pickup is ever off, it would affect all pickup selections because the magnetic pull underneath the node would be constant. The magnet of the neck pickup doesn't turn off simply because you switch to the bridge pickup, does it?

Also you'd find that tone missing on all strings and in all possitions/notes where it was present. if it were a problem with that node. The problem would manifest itself everywhere and not just at one point.

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I know the magnetic pull is there at all times, but the only time that that node exists and happens to be over any pup is when you're doing a 5th fret harmonic and try to use the pup that the node happens to be sitting on top of, all other harmonics do not produce these nodes that sit over any pup so it wouldn't matter.

As I mentioned, the only way to verify if that's true would be to move the neck pup away from that node, not something I'm interested in doing...

Not completely correct mate. Every note (not harmonic) is made up of a number of underlying harmonics. These are what you hear when you strike a harmonic bell tone. If your neck pickup was negating any of those frequencies it would occur on every note (not harmonic) where that harmonic pitch was a part of the note.

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The neck pup is not the culprit here, it is the node sitting on top of it, so the location of the pup is more to blame, there are no vibration occurring over the neck pup, at least that's what I'm understanding from that quote... the neck pup cannot pickup these vibrations when doing this harmonic cause they dont exist.

But that is clearly not the case. You'd notice it all over the guitar if that was happening. Just because that harmonic occurs at one place doesn't mean it doesn't happen elsewhere. It is even part of the makeup of certain fretted notes. Without it you'd have a very poor sounding guitar, more akin to a generated frequency instrument like a electronic keyboard or a moog.

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I know this is an old post but, I was having the same problem with a used esp vintage plus strat I just got. It came with its stock seymour duncan ssl-1's and I couldn't get an audible harmonic on the 5th fret with the neck pickup. I had a set of lindy fralin vintage hots with a blender pot in place of the second tone pot laying around so I slapped it in. Not only did it breath life into this axe but I get even volume on all my harmonics on all frets and pickups. I don't know if it is the wiring for the blender pot or the pickups but I am happy with the new tone and glad I have my harmonics back!!.

CedarBlues is 100% dead-on with the physical explanation. If you look carefully you can actually see the nodes with your eyes - it's the p[laces where the string appears not to move. The 5th fret harmonic puts a node DIRECTLY above the neck pickup. You can verify this by taking careful measurements (see post above).

It has absolutely nothing to do with technique, equalization, pickup height, magnetic pulls, or cosmic rays. It's physics. You can also find the nodes by touching the strings where you expect a node to be - the harmonic will continue to ring. Touch the string anywhere else and you stop the ringing. Try this and you'll find a node sitting happily above the neck pickup...

I wonder if the number of frets and scale length have anything to do with it. My esp has 22 frets so the location of the node on the neck pup may be different than on a 21 fret neck.... just a thought I am probably wrong though...